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Jan 10th, 2009.

Bally/Midway Service Bulletins. 100+ pages in one PDF file.


ballyservicebulletins



JAN 21st Update-

Centipede Documentation. Over 60 pages of memos, design docs, field test reports and other interesting information.

centipedememos

Jan 20th Update-

The Atari Programmers reference manual. Meant to teach new employees how to program for Atari hardware.


atariprogramref


Jan 19th Update-

Marble Madness 2- Operators Manual.

marblemanman


Marble Madness Design Document.

marblemadnessdesign






Jan 15th,2007 Update-

Marble Madness II Field Test Report- This document explains alot about the end product, and clears up alot of rumors.

MMIIfieldtest





Decmeber 23rd,2007 update: Here are some new documents from the early 1970's.



march16gamepriorities

laststarfighterproposal

july75staffmeeting

jan77prodschedule

dirtbikeproposal

nov75industrialdesign

may76schedule

dicecoctail

cyanstatusjuly1976

july75grassvalley

nov76gamereview

canyonbomberdescription

Missile Command proposal document. This is the original 3 page proposal for this classic Atari game.

Prototype collections reports. Here are a bunch of early 80's collections reports for protoype games.

Steve Jobs memo for World Cup. This is a memo from Steve Jobs, the famous CEO of Apple Computer. Before Steve ran a multi-billion dollar computer empire, he worked at Atari Games. This memo details some mods to a World Cup PCB. I'm not sure if this memo is from the time before he worked for Atari, or after? Does anyone have a picture of Steve during his time at Atari?

Star
Wars memo from Lucas Films. This document contains some funny comments
from Lucas Films on the game play proposal from Atari Games. There is a hand
written note from Mike Hally at the top.

Linked Star Wars
Memo: This document describes an idea for a sequel to Star Wars
with the ability to link games together.

First Person Space Wars
Proposal: This document was written by Jed Margolin. It's a game
proposal for the game that became Star Wars.

First Person Space Wars
Revised Proposal: The same document as above, but revised for submission
to management.

Prototype
Collection Report for 3/14/80 : This memo is a report on how well
the test games did on location. A few game names are mentioned that might
not have been heard before.

Battle Zone Field Test Report:
(part1) (part2)
This is a report on how players reacted to Battlezone during the test phase.

First Person Tank Mockup
Drawing: This sketch is a mock up for First Person Tank, the game
that became Battlezone.

Warp Speed Field
Review Report: This is a document for March 1982 that talks about
features of Warp Speed and how players felt about the game. (LINK BROKEN 1/4/07- check back later)

Warp Speed Propsal Document (part
1) (part 2). This document is basically
a proposal for Warp Speed gameplay.

(new documents below were added on 1/9/02)

Star Wars Game Costs
Memo: How much did it cost to build each Star Wars Upright?

Battlezone Tank Sketch-
Here is an orginal sketch drawing for one of the BZ tanks.

Tomcat Game Proposal:
This is an early draft of the Tomcat vector game proposal.

Missile Command Cost
Sheet: How much did it cost to build each Missile Command Upright?

Star Wars Game
Play Ideas: Some of these ideas did not make the cut.

Top Ten IC Failures
on Star Wars Boards: Just like the link says.

Star Wars NOVRAM
Failure Memo- This decribes a problem with the Score and Settings
ram for Star Wars.

Battlezone Costs
Memo: What did it cost to build Batlezone uprights?

Asteroids Cost Memo
- Price of Building the uprights.

Star Wars Focus Group Feedback - This
is an early report on the Star Wars game. (part1)
(part2)

Tomcat Memo :
Memo to management with info on the Tomcat project.

Star Wars Service
Note- This is a Field Service memo dated 7/83

(new documents below were added on 1/13/02)

MAP:
This is a map of all the Atari Buildings in Sunnyvale California. At one time
Atari seemed to own the entire block.

Project Number
List - this is a list of projects. The date is 11/80.

Project Number
List - this is a list of projects. The date is 2/81

Project Number
List - this is a list of projects. The date is 6/81

Security Protection : (part1)
(part2) This is a document on how to prevent bootlegging
of games. Written by Ed Logg.

Company Store Price List (part1)
(part2) This is the price list at which employees
could purchase Atari Products.

Brainstorm Session: (part1)
(part 2) This document is from a Game Idea Brainstorming
session in Feb 1980.

First Person Tank
Idea Proposal: This is an early idea document for Battlezone.

Project Priorities:
This document lists the priorities for a bunch of 1980 projects.